flowering dogwood

“Flea markets, estate sales and antique malls are a good source for inexpensive treasures, but if you’re lucky enough to have a garden, it’s all there for free: feathers, rocks, seed pods, a branch of flowering dogwood,” he says.

As for native flora, we all know the flowering dogwood and the Virginia bluebell, but they are just a glimpse of the vernal cornucopia; the eastern United States has one of the richest natural troves of indigenous woodland plants in the world, all begging to be used in our gardens.

For any spring-flowering branch, you can cut it just as it is about to flower, and over the next month or so, that includes star and saucer magnolias, flowering dogwood, redbud and crab apples.

Some trees, such as black cherry, flowering dogwood and white oak, also begin to produce a pigment called anthocyanin each fall.

“Belk Bowl,” that Charlotte-based affair with the bouncy name, will change sponsors and names after Dec. 31, enabling us to hope against hope that organizers might rummage around the various foliage possibilities, name a Flowering Dogwood Bowl and improve the country.